Face it Recruiters: You Need Marketing
HR professionals - specifically Recruiting Professionals - continue to preach how winning the talent war is more about the perception of your company than the actual opportunities. I have always thought that your ideal candidate is really like your company’s ideal customer. When you are trying to woo a big account you pour resources into making that happen whether it’s happy hours, events or highly effective campaigns. Most companies have a highly engaged and tech savvy Marketing Department who are usually at the forefront of all the new messaging and social media trends.
Many recruiters I speak with have no trouble finding candidates to apply for jobs - but really getting the top talent to engage is becoming more and more difficult. So we talk about what medium they are using to reach out to their intended audience and I am shocked at some of the answers. There is still a huge contingent of businesses who live by the “If you build it they will come” philosophy - meanwhile their competitors are taking the top talent by invoking a more marketing based strategy to attract applicants. Remember the old saying: “Give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day, teach him to fish he’ll eat forever”? Well if you are in recruiting and you are struggling to fill positions - or worse your retention is suffering because you are settling on bad hires - might I suggest walking down the hall and learning how to fish from your Marketing Department?
The same psychology and strategy that top tier Marketers use to attract customers is easily applicable to a recruitment plan. With the availability of advanced metrics and analytics you can quickly gauge your success and pivot if needed. I’m sure everyone is using some sort of app or service to POST a position - why not MARKET a position instead? By marketing you identify a demographic you want to attract - and can customize your message. This seems like a better way to attract the candidate you want, improve your retention and company’s bottom line. Now this is not some new concept - in fact I have actually come across several companies where there is a dotted line from recruiters to the Marketing Directors/VP - or an outright direct report relationship. It was no coincidence that these companies had a better rate of filling positions and they were better at long-term retention. By adopting a marketing approach you invite feedback from candidates. This reveals a lot about someone before you even interview them. Depending on your message you can even create “pseudo-recruiters” as your targeted candidates begin to refer your company to their peers and now you’ve increased your candidate pool organically.
I believe you will find that recruiting candidates will become a more strategic initiative and you will quickly be able to separate your ideal candidate from a potentially bad hire and improve you employer brand. You just have to walk down the hall and talk to the folks in Marketing - trust me they’ll be more than happy to share.
Technology adoption accelerator & encore coder | front end active | back end literate
9yNobody shouldn't do this!
Consulting and Coaching for Physicians Seeking Leadership Positions and Physician Consulting Business Startups
9yFrom my perspective, the healthcare industry, recruiting and marketing need to be attached at the hip. Working with marketing professionals to identify the best vehicles and methods to transfer the visual and verbal mission, vision, and core values of a company is critical, not to mention the KPI's of the job they are sourcing for. Competing for talent requires attention to detail and should not be left to an individual person to decide how they will sell their positions. And I agree that recruiters need to keep candidates informed and let them know through an email or phone call when the position has been filled.
Recruiter of DFH/Security/Access Professionals
9yNice post Jarid. Perception is frequently more critical than reality. Relevant, fact based marketing (instead of benefit dribble) can do wonders to build employer brand credibility. One place to start: apply marketing principles to writing job descriptions.
Talent Advisor / Tech Enthusiast / Player-Coach
9yInteresting post! I think the inclusion of marketing to help identify talent is a smart way to attract candidates. However, it's what you do once they are engaged that makes the difference! We have a team of very talented recruiters, but as many have mentioned, they are culling through thousands of resume's and talk to a large number of candidates - so how do they do it? How do the follow up with everyone presented, know all there is to know about the requirement, client culture, reason for the open position, etc.? The answer is: They can't - not for all their requirements. This is where the Account Manager role in staffing firms become an ESSENTIAL part of the recruiting process. I firmly believe that it's BOTH the recruiter’s and the Account Manager’s responsibility to ensure a positive experience with candidates - regardless if they get the position or not! This may mean that the account manager actually needs to pick up the phone (*gasp*) and call the candidate once the position as closed to let them know. Conversely, before a candidate is even submitted to a position, a call from the account manager to the candidate can make all the difference! I like to review the opportunity and share the in-depth detail with the candidate, that the recruiter most likely doesn't have – and with all the positions our team are recruiting for, they really can’t know that level of detail. Doing this can ensure a successful experience and a greater potential for a hire. I love what I do - I dislike what is happening to this industry. We're in the people business - marketing positions to candidates is a necessary part of what we do. BUT - where most people fall short is the realization that we (IT Staffing Firms) have 2 customers: The companies we work with AND the candidates we present!!! Both deserving of the same level of respect, attention, and follow through.
Business Leader, Strategist & Work Winner at Seeking New Management role in construction or building products
9yThere is a large number of recruiters that treat candidates disrespectfully. They only ring you or reply when you are specifically of interest to them. They even email you telling you they will be ringing you and never bother. They do not return calls and some do not even give feedback from interviews. I had a rather nasty email from a recruiter today. He clearly had not read my CV in depth as he told me I was unsuitable for a role that I had already done several years ago. He sent a rather rude and scathing email and I am sure clients would not use such people if they knew how they treat applicants. Good manners and courtesy costs nothing and the person out of work today may be the one recruiting tomorrow and will remember how they were treated when the boot was on the other foot.